This invention relates to a belt drive tape cartridge for storage of magnetic tape and the like used with a computer as an external recording medium.
Conventional drive belt type tape cartridges include standard-sized tape cartridges and small-sized (mini) tape cartridges. Although such mini tape cartridges offer the advantages of reduced size and weight, they have been demanded to have a greater memory capacity. It may be possible to increase the memory capacity of the mini tape cartridge by changing the memory format of the magnetic tape. However, the conventional drive unit cannot read and record data with the changed memory format. Alternatively, it may be possible to increase the memory capacity of the mini tape cartridge by increasing the length of the magnetic tape. However, it is difficult to increase the length of the magnetic tape without changing the size of the base plate since the base plate is crowded with elements such as hubs, tape guides, corner rollers and the like.